Mumbai: Three senior executive employees of an electronics goods retail chain having 15 showrooms have been arrested for allegedly stealing electronic goods and embezzling funds to the tune of over Rs 41 lakh and selling them to a wholesaler at a lesser rate.
While 68 high-end cellphones, two laptops, three smartwatches besides other goods worth Rs 37.6 lakh were stolen, items worth Rs 3.5 lakh were fraudulently billed in names of employees’ acquaintances, said the police.
The store’s stock manager Vaibhav Tambe (33), product manager Sujit Singh (44), and software handler Nilesh Javakar (34) have been arrested while those who bought the booty from them are wanted, said officials of Dadar police station. A laptop and Rs 5 lakh have been recovered from those arrested.
The police said that the accused had issued forged invoices and bills to steal goods. The fraud came to light recently when discrepancies were found in two missing cellphones. An internal audit at the store helped unearth a larger scam, said the police. While discrepancies in stock records were found, an investigation revealed that the accused employees had tampered with the company’s software system to hide the stolen inventory.
According to a complaint by the company’s general manager, the three executives had conspired to manipulate stock records and sell electronics goods outside official channels.
A store official said that they have initiated legal action and the police have registered a criminal offence in the case. “Investigations are on to trace the stolen goods and assess the extent of fraud,” the official said.
